New cannon on display at Neuse Center

A reproduction 12-pound Mountain Howitzer sits on the first floor of the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center on Thursday. This type of cannon was used by one of New York artillery batteries during the Battle of Kinston.

Zach Frailey, The Free Press

By Noah Clark, Staff Writer

Published: Sunday, March 9, 2014 at 04:36 PM.

The CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center received an addition to its large collection of Civil War era objects Thursday in the form of a cannon.

Site manager Matthew Young said the reproduction 12-pound Mountain Howitzer was delivered to the center Thursday morning and has ties to local events.

“It was used by one of the New York artillery batteries that came here for the first Battle of Kinston and then down at Goldsboro bridge,” he said. “This would have been a fairly light gun for the Civil War. So this was a lot of the time attached to faster moving units such as calvary. With a different set up, you would have had the “Confederate Navy” using these on ships as well and it would have been known as a boat Howitzer.”

Young said the cannon will serve several purposes.

“We’ve got it here for people to look at, but we are also going to make it functional,” he said. “We’ll take it out, practice with it, and probably use it in local events and reenactments.”

Young said the state should be bidding out contracts to construct display cases for artifacts by the middle of next month. “We are going through the steps to get everything finalized,” he said. All of the texts, exhibits, cases, the story and how it’s laid out. All of that is in the final stages and we are around 95 percent of the way done with that.”

Young said after those steps have been completed, the state will bid out the contracts. The bidding period will most likely last for a month, with construction on the exhibits expected to begin in early June if everything goes according to plan. Construction is estimated to take between four and five months.

The CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center received an addition to its large collection of Civil War era objects Thursday in the form of a cannon.

Site manager Matthew Young said the reproduction 12-pound Mountain Howitzer was delivered to the center Thursday morning and has ties to local events.

“It was used by one of the New York artillery batteries that came here for the first Battle of Kinston and then down at Goldsboro bridge,” he said. “This would have been a fairly light gun for the Civil War. So this was a lot of the time attached to faster moving units such as calvary. With a different set up, you would have had the “Confederate Navy” using these on ships as well and it would have been known as a boat Howitzer.”

Young said the cannon will serve several purposes.

“We’ve got it here for people to look at, but we are also going to make it functional,” he said. “We’ll take it out, practice with it, and probably use it in local events and reenactments.”

Young said the state should be bidding out contracts to construct display cases for artifacts by the middle of next month. “We are going through the steps to get everything finalized,” he said. All of the texts, exhibits, cases, the story and how it’s laid out. All of that is in the final stages and we are around 95 percent of the way done with that.”

Young said after those steps have been completed, the state will bid out the contracts. The bidding period will most likely last for a month, with construction on the exhibits expected to begin in early June if everything goes according to plan. Construction is estimated to take between four and five months.

Young said he hopes the center may fully open up in October.

“That’s what we are pushing for,” he said. “It’s not definite yet, but we’d like to do it in October.”

Noah Clark can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Noah.Clark@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @nclark63

Breakout box:

Today at 10 a.m., the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources’ State Underwater Archeology team will be on the Neuse River to search for remnants of the ironclad CSS Neuse using the latest in high resolution technology. Their vessel, a 23-foot boat named the R/V Snap dragon II, will patrol the river between the King Street bridge and the Queen Street bridge for about five hours. The focus of the expedition will be to gather data on any objects from the Confederate built ironclad that was destroyed in March 1865.New cannon on display at Neuse Center